Paolo Baratta, president of the Venice Biennale, and Christine Macel, the curator of the fifty-seventh edition of the exhibition, announced today the title of the 2017 biennial: “Viva Arte Viva.”

According to Macel, the title reflects the role and responsibility artists have in framing contemporary debates. Describing the biennial as an exhibition designed with the artists, by the artists, and for the artists, Macel said in a statement that it “aims to be an experience, representing an extroversion movement towards the other, towards a common place, and towards the most indefinable of dimensions, opening pathways to a neo-humanism.”

In addition to the pavilions, which will feature works by artists representing fifty-seven countries, each week an Open Table (Tavola Aperta) will be held, during which the artists will engage in conversation about their practices with the public.

When Baratta appointed Macel in January, he said she was “a curator committed to emphasizing the important role artists play in inventing their own universes and kindly injecting vitality into the world we live in.”

The biennial will take place from May 13 to November 26, 2017, in the Giardini and the Arsenale, as well as numerous satellite venues throughout Venice. In addition, there will be a number of “Collateral Events,” programming organized by various institutions throughout the city that will coincide with the exhibition.